


this wall between us

by icemakestars



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Childhood Trauma, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Prison
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 06:01:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24170041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icemakestars/pseuds/icemakestars
Summary: Gray is requested by the magic council to help Jellal, and is surprised to find himself warming to the other man.
Relationships: Jellal Fernandes/Gray Fullbuster
Comments: 4
Kudos: 27
Collections: Fairy Tail LGBTales, Fairy Tail Rarepairs





	this wall between us

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally started for jelray week 2019 with the prompt "snowglobe" but i never finished it. And then jelray week 2020 came and went and i didnt finish it. Then rarepair week. Im just shit with time management and prioritising ig. Anyways its here, finally, so uhh enjoy.
> 
> Thank you ceru for being my beta <3
> 
> tumblr - gaymirajane  
> twitter - edenszerowo

**Snowglobe-**

The train rattled along the tracks, and Gray instinctively raised his feet from the ground, forgetting for a moment that he was safe from bodily fluids with Natsu not present. It was rare for them to take a job without Natsu, Lucy, and Happy, but even rarer that Erza would request him to go alone with her. He was humbled, if not confused, especially when the redhead appeared to tense further at each mile the train travelled. 

“Erza, I wish you would tell me something about this job.” He sighed, stretched his arms out in front of him and relaxed against the seat. 

Erza searched his face, brown eyes narrow and brow knitted tightly together, before she took a long, drawn breath and allowed her gaze to wander out of the window as opposed to Gray’s features. 

“I… misinformed you earlier. This is not necessarily a mission, as such, but rather an unpaid request from the council.” 

He sat up, rigid. Requests from the council were always significant to some degree, but still Gray could not work out why they were picked specifically and not the rest of their team. 

“The magic council want us?” Gray asked slowly, chewing the statement around his mouth before spitting it out. When Erza’s gaze met his, it was guarded; tentative. Gray swallowed loudly.

“They want you, Gray. I’m merely an escort.” 

There was a bump along the tracks, and Gray fell from the chair, disorientated by the voyage and Erza’s words. From the floor, he almost yelped, “What have I done to upset the council? Are they sure it wasn’t Natsu?”

There was panic laced through his quiet tones, and Erza visibly relaxed, mirth on her lips where stress was moments ago. She extended a gauntlet-clad hand and pulled Gray to his feet before answering. 

“You’ve done nothing wrong, Gray. Well, nothing worthy of an audience with the magic council, anyway.” She added wryly, and he coughed, scratching the back of his neck at the recollection of the buildings he had destroyed over the years. “Jellal is being held in the prison on the underground floor, and the council need some help when questioning him for his trial. You’ve been requested to come and help Jellal.” 

The mere mention of his name prickled Gray’s nerves, and as he sat forward to demand an explanation, an attendant parked her trolley next to them, asking if they require food or drink of any kind. Gray gestured vaguely that they were okay, and Erza confirmed that with a polite smile. The two wizards stared at each other intensely until the attendant was out of hearing range, and then Gray hissed through gritted teeth: 

“What can I  _ possibly  _ do to help Jellal?”

It was complicated, the relationship that the Fairy Tail guild had with Jellal, and the council knew that. Erza saw the good in him, remembered it from her childhood and cherished that, but Gray, Natsu, and Lucy only saw the deranged man who had tried to kill Erza; who had made her  _ cry _ . He knew that he would be a hypocrite to not offer Jellal a second chance after he had reconnected with Lyon, but it was easier to forgive someone for pain if it did not belong to someone you cared about. 

Erza’s gaze was soft and it made Gray feel almost guilty about his pensive attitude. Still, she did not answer, looking over his shoulder at the scenery outside. 

“We’ve arrived.” She breathed, picked up Her belongings and headed out of the train, clearly expecting Gray to follow. 

He grumbled under his breath as he went but knew that it was safer to chase Erza than it was to defy her. The redhead stood on the platform looking over her shoulder impatiently, waiting for Gray to join her. 

She walked slightly ahead of him, and Gray felt his frustration grow that she had given him more questions than she was seemingly prepared to answer. 

Soon enough they arrived at the magic council building, and it was as intimidating as Gray remembered; he shuddered, reluctantly stepping foot into the council grounds. This would be the first time he had been there without some kind of penalty being ensued. Gray crossed his arms over his chest and followed Erza tentatively. 

It was warmer in Era than Magnolia, almost uncomfortably so, and Gray wondered not for the first time how Erza coped under all of those layers of heavy metal and fabrics. He shook his head in disbelief, undid a couple more buttons on his shirt, and admired his surroundings.

The council building was grand, of course, in size and in quality, but it still managed to set Gray’s teeth on edge. Tax money paid for the council, and Gray despised thinking about how much had been wasted on extravagant and needless items and renovations. The council, despite claiming to be the main source of peace in Fiore, were incredibly deplorable.

There was a grass verge, decorated with potted plants and tall trees, none of which Gray knew by name. They didn’t smell overly pleasant either, but Gray had never really liked flowers. His allergies didn’t, either.

The verge sloped down to wrought iron gates, large and clean and void of rust. Erza pressed the keypad and announced their arrival and intentions. The gate clicked open and, slowly, they came apart. This could have been achieved with magic, of course, but they enjoyed the pompous aesthetic, no matter how obnoxious it made them seem. Gray rolled his eyes and clicked his tongue. Erza shot him a look but didn’t comment. She knew that he would hold his tongue, for the sake of the guild if nothing else. 

Only twenty feet away from the gate was the oak double-doors, and even though they looked heavy, Erza pushed them open with ease. 

The lobby was white and gold, luscious and obnoxious, and Gray thought about the taxpayers again. He felt sick. 

“Wait here.” Erza instructed, not bothering to check if Gray would comply. She knew that he would. 

With a sigh, he ran his hand through his hair and slouched against the wall. Erza had crossed the room and was at the desk speaking to one of the frog minions. After a short conversation she gestured at him to sit with her in the assigned waiting area. 

Apprehension filled his lungs like smog, but still he trusted Erza implicitly; he took the seat next to her and let his head fall against the wall behind them. 

“There are some things about Jellal that you don’t know.” She began softly, and Gray bristled. What he did know was awful, was enough to condemn the man. What more could there possibly be?

“He was from Giltena as well, the same as you.” 

Gray snapped his neck around to stare at Erza, but she was looking down at her hands, smoothing her skirt over and over again until the only crease to be found was between Gray’s brows.

“Why didn’t you tell me before?” He tried, but that wasn’t what he wanted to know, not really; Jellal was the first person he had met in Ishgar who was originally from the Northern continent of Giltena. Were they from similar areas, and could they have crossed paths before? 

Erza shook her head to the side,

“I did not realise until recently. You described the snowy mountains near your home village, and it came to me then that Jellal had once told me of the same place, in the Tower. Soon after the council contacted me to come here today, so I decided it best to save the nature of our job for now. I’m sorry, Gray.” 

She meant it, of course. Gray had known Erza to be many things, but insincere had never been one of them. He swallowed his regret at not knowing this sooner and placed his hand over hers. 

“It’s okay, Erza. What do they need me to do?” 

It was rare to see Erza so cautious, but they had both lost so much. That pain was evident then, when she took his hand in hers and squeezed. 

“He’s lost most of his memories, and that includes learning Fiorian.” She tested carefully, and Gray sucked a sharp breath through his teeth. 

“You need me to translate.” 

“I’m sorry Gray, I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t-” 

“It’s okay, Erza. It’s okay.” Gray felt the world sway, and he allowed himself a moment to get steady in his own mind once again. “I can do that.”

Even though she nodded, Erza was still staring at Gray skeptically. She knew that he hadn’t spoken Giltish since Ur had died. It was a reminder of his parents; of home. Of a life filled with love and light that he would never get back. Erza carried the same pain in her heart, so Gray appreciated that she would never ask this of him unless the council truly demanded it. That didn’t help calm the racing of his heart, or reduce the tingling heat which was spreading upwards from his palms. Gray knew that he was close to panicking, close to reliving memories that he had long since buried, but he felt safe with Erza, and he clung to that feeling. 

“Miss Scarlet, Mr Fullbuster. This way please.” The same frog that Erza had spoken to - or at least Gray assumed they were the same; all of the council’s frogs looked the same to him anyway - hailed their attention, and Erza stood. After a moment, Gray joined her, and together they followed the purple frog down the winding hallways of the council building. 

Gray had been there before, briefly, to bail Natsu out of jail once, but they had redecorated since then, and nothing was familiar to him now. Not that Gray was paying much attention, too preoccupied with watching his step and keeping his breathing steady. Part of him wanted to reach out and take Erza’s hand, but Gray knew that he would die of embarrassment as soon as their skin touched. So instead he followed dutifully, eyes cast down onto the ground, desperate for this day to be over so he could go home and rest. 

The frog wizard stopped abruptly and Gray almost fell into Erza. They turned on their heel and pulled a document from inside their cloak, thrusting it in Gray’s direction. 

“Here is what we need Mr Fernandes to understand. If he does not cooperate then the guards will reprimand him.” 

Gray winced at that. He knew what the council meant by ‘reprimand’. Erza looked as though she was about to protest, but was cut off by the council member wrapping its slimy purple hand around her wrist. 

“Miss Scarlet, with me please.”

“I want to stay with Gray.” She snapped. 

“I’m afraid that is not an option. We need to discuss official business about your team’s destruction of the Zenault Church in Bosco.” 

There was no room to argue then. But that didn’t stop Erza from trying. 

“I will see to those matters after me and my guild mate have assisted the council here.” Erza yanked her hand free, and the frog seemed startled. Gray knew that feeling; the wrath of Erza, and the awe that it inspired. 

“The council leader Yormo will only be available from-” 

“It’s okay, Erza. Really.” He offered her the remains of a smile. “I’ll meet you back in that waiting room when I’m done.” 

With that, Erza was dragged away, throwing concerned glances over her shoulder until she disappeared around a corner. 

The door was large, or maybe it was just that Gray felt so small. When he was ready, he pushed his way through it, and was greeted with a multitude of cells. Two rune knights were stood like ornamental busts, expressions barely cracking when they saw him. 

“Do you have permission to be in here?” One asked, an older, balding man who looked bored to be there. Gray shook the papers at him. 

“I’m here to speak to prisoner…’ He squinted, regretting not bringing his reading glasses with him. “Four-six-seven-three.” 

“Fernandes?” The other man raised his brows in surprise, and Gray nodded. 

The two guards exchanged a look which Gray couldn’t read, and that put him further at edge. After a minute, the balding man clicked his tongue. 

“He’s in the furthest cell, near the guard room.”

And then they were stood still again, not even bothering to watch as Gray moved uncertainly into the room. 

Many of the blue cubes were empty, which Gray found was a comfort; he didn’t like to see people imprisoned, no matter what they had done. It felt inhumane, almost, but even he couldn’t think of a viable alternative. One cube held a man with hair down to his hip and a beard that was even longer, and there was something unhinged in his eyes that made Gray unable to look for more than a moment. Another cube held a petite young girl - younger than Gray - who was screaming, bashing frantically against the walls of the cell with her handcuffs. He wondered what they had done to be imprisoned here, but the thought made him shiver. These cells were reserved for the worst criminals in Fiore. Gray knew that, in these cases, he was better off in the dark. 

Just as the guards had said, Gray saw Jellal in a cell in the back of the room. His deep azure hair was a clear giveaway, and when Gray got close enough to spot the tattoo which stretched across his face, any doubts which remained utterly dissipated. These two physical features were the only things that Gray recognised though, and without them he would have sworn that this was a different man; the Jellal he had met was arrogant and radiated power and intelligence. This man, however, was nothing more than a husk; an echo of who Jellal had once been. He raised his head when he heard Gray approach, and his eyes were wide and wet, gaze frantic and afraid. Gray winced. 

“ _ Hello? Can you help me? _ ”

It had been years since Gray had heard Giltish, let alone spoken it. His mind took a moment to adjust, and then Gray cleared his throat. 

“ _ My name is Gray. _ ” He said, eyeing Jellal uncertainly. “ _ I’m here to explain your crimes, and why you’ve been detained. _ ” 

Jellal nodded slowly, brow pulled low and gaze moving from Gray’s face to instead focus on the ground. 

Gray didn’t know what to do. In theory, he knew that Jellal had committed atrocities greater than anyone Gray had ever met. A scan of the documents in his hand proved that. And yet, the man in front of him was so far removed from a hardened criminal that Gray felt like he was suffering from whiplash. He was a lot of things, but he wasn’t a monster; Gray couldn’t just monotonously read from a sheet of paper whilst another man suffered in front of him. Gray dropped to his haunched, rested his hand along the hard glass of the cube.

“ _ I’m sorry about this, Jellal. _ ” He rolled the ‘e’, extended the ‘l’, using proper Giltish pronunciation which was lost on the Fiorian tongue. 

He raised his head at that, an echo of a smile brushing the edge of his pale, chapped lips. 

“ _ Where did you learn Giltish? _ ” Jellal asked, and Gray shrugged. 

“ _ I was born there. _ ”

It wasn’t something that he thought about often, but Gray truly did miss his home country. Fiore was beautiful; spring flowers and summer skies and soft, gentle breezes. But Giltena was a permanent winter, all white landscapes and vast mountain ranges and sculptures made of ice. The two countries were incomparable, stunning in their own entirely separate ways, but that didn’t stop the bitterness from flaring up on occasion. Gray missed the cold nights, and how hugs felt warmer, somehow. He missed the promise of snow, no matter what the season. He missed his parents. 

“ _ It’s warmer here. Brighter. It takes a lot to adjust to. _ ” Gray offered, and Jellal hummed. 

“ _ It definitely doesn’t feel like home. _ ” 

There was a sadness to Jellal’s expression so great and deep it was almost indescribable. Gray had felt it too, when he had first come to Fiore, and he wanted to help Jellal through that grief. The loss of family was one thing, but they had both lost far more than that; their home, culture, and everything else that they had known. An idea struck him, and Gray wondered if he would be able to pull it off. Looking at the other man’s wrists, it was clear that Jellal was wearing magic-nullifying handcuffs, Gray knew their weight well himself, which meant that it was unlikely the cell he was in suppressed magic itself. The guards were at the far edge of the room, preoccupied with their own conversation, and Gray knew that this would be his only opportunity. It was a risk, but he would take it. There were vent holes placed randomly along the glass, and Gray slipped his forefinger across one that was high enough in the air. A soft blue hue, a hum of magic vibrating from his skin, and then small flecks of ice were cascading down inside Jellal’s cell. Gray couldn’t make snow, but the ice danced in the light just as beautifully, and Jellal didn’t seem to mind the difference. In less than a minute there was a flurry spiralling around Jellal, and he stood to marvel at it. 

“ _ Beautiful. _ ” He muttered, and even though Gray had had people compliment his magic before, it never failed to bring warmth to his cheeks. 

“ _ What town were you from? _ ”

“ _ Binkov. _ ” There was a wistful, far-away look to Jellal then, one that Gray recognised. He felt a pang of sadness in his gut, but pushed through it, forcing himself to remember every geographical fact he knew about his home land. 

Binkov was more eastern than Gray’s own hometown of Strangard, but he had been once or twice. There was a type of cloth which could only be bought along the east coast, where the air was a little less cool and still held salt from the ocean, and Gray’s mother had liked to make undergarments from it. It was a small town, but the mountain range that towered over it was regarded across the whole of Giltena as the most beautiful; ice stuck to them, outlining each and every crevice earning them the name ‘glass peaks’. Gray concentrated hard, and then the ice in the air twirled and twisted together, forming a mountain range as close to glass peaks as Gray’s memories would allow. The sculpture fell into Jellal’s hands, and for a moment Gray was worried that he had made the wrong decision, that this might push Jellal across some kind of mental ledge, but Jellal smiled at him, eyes wide and full of wonder. 

“ _ Glass peaks! _ ” 

In the time that Jellal had been clashing with Fairy Tail, Gray didn’t think he had ever seen him look so… sweet. Innocent. It was proof to him that although magic could build spirits, it could also break them. 

Jellal let his fingers brush across the frosty flecks, and Gray felt a heat spread across his skin, and not from the weather around Era. Jellal seemed so vulnerable and kind, it contorted his once cruel features into something… attractive. He understood why Jellal had been at the top of Sorcerer Weekly’s dating list. But he shook those thoughts away, too afraid of where they would lead. 

“ _ Thank you, Gray. _ ” 

Jellal smiled then, wide and without restraint, and Gray felt his heart thrum maddeningly quick in his chest. This was so stupid, getting worked up over  _ Jellal _ of all people. Gray hoped that these feelings, whatever they were, would ebb as quickly as they had risen, and that they would leave him behind when he went, stranded and alone. Being alone was easier than being open and vulnerable; Gray had long since realised that. But speaking his native language had reopened an old wound, and every time his eyes locked within Jellal’s, Gray felt as though salt had been rubbed in it. 

“ _ The ice won’t melt, but it will be crushed. _ ” Gray said, watching as Jellal softly stroked his frozen creation. “ _ If the guards catch you with it just squeeze it, hard. You shouldn’t get in any trouble that way. _ ”

“ _ Trouble would be worth it, if I could keep this. _ ”

Gray was tired of feeling heat in his cheeks, of this embarrassment that he just couldn’t seem to shake. 

“ _ I can make you another one if it gets destroyed. _ ” He mumbled, and Jellal’s eyes went wide. He placed the sculpture carefully on the ground, shuffling over to where the glass separated them. Slowly, Jellal raised his hands and pressed them flat against the cell. 

“ _ So you’ll come back to see me? _ ”

Gray didn’t know if the council would allow it, or even if Jellal would want that if his memories returned, but the look of fragile hope, like barely tempered glass, in Jellal’s eyes was too much for him. Gray placed one of his hands flat, covering Jellal’s.

“ _ Of course I will. _ ”

Their gazes remained locked, and it was intense and new and exciting ways that Gray had never let himself explore before. This was bad, really bad, but Gray couldn’t bring himself to care. The warmth pooling in his stomach made a pleasant change from the chill of loneliness he had become so accustomed to, and for once Gray wasn’t opposed to the heat. 

He was the first to break the contact, of course, pulling his hand away as though he had been scorched by something untouchable, and coughed lightly into his fist. 

“ _ Right _ ," he began, shuffling the documents in his hand just for something to do, because Jellal hadn’t looked away from his face yet and Gray felt exposed. “ _ We should really get to work. _ ”


End file.
